The side effects of the crystal are a comic book setting. Although Shiller knew that Anatoli had left him with a huge mess, he didn't know exactly how this so-called "misfortune" would manifest. Was it that everything he tried to do would fail, or that even when successful there would be side effects? He even wondered if it involved some sort of metaphysical or fate-related issues.
Now he knew, it wasn't that profound—it was simply cosmic-level bad luck. And it seemed like it didn't matter which universe, it was an equal measure of bad luck everywhere. Perhaps this was a case of quantitative change leading to qualitative change.
"Is there any way to undo it?" Shiller asked.
"If it was only used once or twice, there is," Reed pondered and said, "But since we traveled through hundreds of thousands of universes to gather what we needed, it's probably hopeless."
Shiller sighed, deciding to stop thinking about it. He said, "How did you know Anatoli has returned?"
"I guessed," Reed smugly said, "If he hadn't returned, the personality traits that manifested wouldn't have been yours. Greed must have gone to watch the fun, right?"
Shiller was a bit surprised again, saying, "You also know about his thing with Lucifer..."
Reed wore a reminiscent expression and said, "He doesn't have many friends, always keeping to himself. Even in the Old Skrull Empire, there were few people he could speak with. He and I thought similarly in certain ways, so we got along well. Sometimes he'd drink, and once drunk, he'd talk about these matters..."
"So why didn't you mention it before?"
"There was no Franklin before," Reed rolled his eyes and said, "Although it's not like I can't traverse time without him, with him around, even if I cause paradoxes by crossing time, he can fix it and prevent the universe from being destroyed."
"So you only met the past Anatoli recently? How come he never mentioned you to me?"
"Weren't you still a kid when you spent time with him?" Reed said, "It's normal that he wouldn't tell you about these things. After all, what we were doing wasn't exactly respectable."
"I'm glad you have this kind of realization. It would have been even better if you hadn't dragged Franklin into it."
"He's not like you," Reed said, "You're not cut out for studying cosmology, but Franklin is a genius. He definitely inherited the intelligence from me and his mother..."
"Alright," Shiller interrupted him, "take a look at this."
He handed over the information Batman collected and some additional notes from Stark to Reed. Shiller swore that Reed hadn't even looked at the data for three seconds before he said, "The problem lies in the way the portal was opened. You should check what he did to open the gateway to the Dark Domain."
Shiller was a bit behind Reed's train of thought and said, "How can you tell?"
"If the portal to the Dark Domain leading to the real universe were so easily opened, then why hasn't its true master, Barbados, easily invaded the real universe?" Reed spread his hands and said, "Because he can't do it. The door isn't that easy to open. Bruce must have used some special method, possibly involving some rituals I'm unaware of."
"... Metal," Shiller said slowly.
He realized that Bruce likely used the power of metal because, in the comics, Barbados invaded the real universe by placing metal on Batman and then opening the portal.
As Bruce was Barbados' most trusted subordinate, it was unlikely that Barbados had not taught him this method. He was counting on Bruce to open the portal. And Bruce indeed used this method to open the portal, but whether it led to the real universe that Barbados dreamed of or just a mouse trap, that was uncertain.
Metal... Metal... Shiller ran through the possibilities in his mind. What metals were needed to open the door? Actually, not many were needed, but the process of finding them in the comics was a bit complicated. Upon reflection, only one metal was particularly troublesome, and that was Amber Gold.
This was supposed to be in the hands of the Court of Owls and was considered one of the easier metals to find among those needed, but unfortunately, the Court of Owls in the universe of Pride no longer existed. Thus, it became the hardest metal to obtain.
And as for why the Court of Owls ceased to exist, one would have to start with the vacation of Pride. But regardless of the reasons, the one who took action eventually was Lucifer, who erased the Court of Owls completely, making it so that no relics existed, including Amber Gold. So where did Bruce get it?
Going to other universes to get it wasn't impossible, but whether metals from other universes would work in this universe was questionable. Bruce himself was an angel, able to enter and leave Heaven freely, to meet Lucifer. So the simplest way was to ask Lucifer, who could simply code it into existence.
"Is he trying to get Lucifer to pull him out?" Shiller had an ominous feeling again.
He had no time to chat idly with Reed and quickly got up and returned to Strange's office. The two mages hadn't finished their conversation, but Shiller could no longer wait. He knocked on the door, pushed it open, and said, "Stop talking, follow me."
Both were puzzled but didn't ask much, following Shiller to find Legion and, through him, began communicating with Batman.
Shiller sorted through what he knew, but greatly omitted the cause and effect, directly saying, "The Cold War may be coming to an end."
Strange was puzzled: "At a time like this, you still have the leisure to imitate Churchill?"
"I mean, the Cold War between The First Lantern and Lucifer may soon end—it could turn into a hot war at any moment. Because they might encounter each other in front of the Origin Wall."
Batman was obviously caught off guard too, but Shiller didn't want to explain any further. He looked at Strange and said, "Call the people now, let's go directly. If we're late, we'll be waiting to fight the fallen angel war!"
Strange and Batman also realized the severity of the situation and immediately went to call people. Strange called a group of mages, and on the mutant side, they also called Magneto and Polaris, and then there was Legion and his personalities.
On the way back to DC, Shiller couldn't help but sigh. How could Batman be so unlucky, as if the curse of the crystal had fallen on him back then, the misfortune was simply interconnected.
Heaven was as peaceful and serene as ever. Michael hadn't enjoyed such a leisurely life for who knows how long. No need to worry about a clown suddenly popping out of the Holy Spring, nor having to hear Bruce singing using the echo of the Sanctuary dome, the whole world was brighter.
But obviously, the first light of creation intended to add a few more sparks to his bright life. When Lucifer walked in wearing that leather jacket, Michael couldn't resist rolling his eyes hard.
The Archangel Lucifer wore that skin for less than two days. After angering Gabriel, he never wore it again, henceforth he became one of Uriel's two biggest headaches along with Bruce—never once wearing the uniform to work.
"Do me a favor," Lucifer leaned in front of his desk, "Shiller sent me a message, asking me to adjust the compatibility, maybe someone from the neighboring universe is coming through. I have things to do..."
"What are you up to?" Michael asked while pulling up the interface and giving him a look.
"Someone hung themselves on the Origin Wall," Lucifer said, "If I don't go to fetch him, we'd lose another Archangel."
"Can't you hang yourself up there too?" Michael said, "Then when God comes to find you, He gets hung up too…"
"You really must have lost your temper," Lucifer snorted coldly, "Even if you hang up, I won't."
"You think I don't know? This thing is what God made to stop you from running off to play in his unfinished construction site. You don't even know how many times you've been hung up there…"
"Why does he keep telling you that!" Lucifer said, annoyed and ashamed.
"Alright, back to business. What's the neighboring universe trying to do? Are they planning to come over here and have a battle too?"
"I don't know. Maybe they also have to deal with the Black Death Emperor, just making some early preparations or something." Lucifer shrugged.
Michael waved his hand at him, "Don't loiter in front of me. Hurry and go."
"You better get it right," Lucifer said while walking out, "If there's a compatibility issue and the universe crashes, I'm not helping you fix it."
Then, Lucifer arrived near the Origin Wall. When he saw those candied haws, he was stunned for a moment too.
When Bruce came to him and probably mentioned the plan, it sounded like just that, far less shocking than seeing it in person. Moreover, Lucifer could see things at the data level, and in his eyes now, it was like several layers of power were nested together, each perfectly blocking the other. It's like a programmer looking at a peculiar program bug in awe.
It seems that only Bruce attentively listened to the cosmology class that he attended. Just for that, Lucifer had to help him out.
However, the current situation was indeed a bit tricky, as all the programs were blocking each other, extracting any one of them separately required some brains. If not done well, it could easily all collapse. Although it's not like it can't be fixed, it's just a bit embarrassing. Lucifer didn't want to be written into Bruce's song, so he stood there thinking.
It's like solving a math problem that requires some cleverness, and the amount of calculation is not small. While Lucifer was standing there calculating, he saw a bunch of people coming from the distance.
The Justice League? Lucifer was slightly surprised. They came pretty fast.
Those people were the Justice League from the Multiverse. Lucifer wasn't surprised that they could find their way here, but finding it so quickly was indeed a bit unexpected.
Lucifer decided to step back and observe to see what they would do. If they could figure out how to pull Earth out, he wouldn't have to do it himself. Although this problem was a bit complex for him, superheroes have the power of plot on their side, one science, one humanities, it's different. Maybe it could be surprisingly successful.
At this moment, Lucifer noticed the leader among the Multiverse Justice League. It was actually hard for him not to notice because, generally speaking, the leader should be all dark and have two pointy ears, not this shining light bulb.
"The First Lantern? Batman actually dug him out?" Lucifer marveled.
But just as he was watching the excitement, the light surrounding the First Lantern suddenly dissipated. He stood there in the dark universe, looked straight in Lucifer's direction.
That was a face unfamiliar to Lucifer; he was sure he didn't know this guy. But for some reason, the moment he saw those blue eyes, a sense of familiarity surged in his heart.
However, he quickly attributed this familiarity to another reason. He emerged from the void, flapped a wing, and appeared before everyone, coldly staring at the First Lantern, "Where did the pendant on your neck come from?"